Welcome to the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast!
We welcome San Jose Sharks’ Director of Player Development Todd Marchant back to the show for our 50th episode! Todd was our very first guest on the new San Jose Hockey Now Podcast, and we celebrate our 50th episode by getting his thoughts on tons of Sharks prospects, from Quentin Musty to Alex Young. (57:13)
But first! It was the NHL Scouting Combine this week and Sheng was on the ground in Buffalo. He shares loads of buzz, rumors and some confirmed prospect interviews. He added a new name to his list from yesterday. (3:25)
We cover whether we think Macklin Celebrini is actually going to return to the NCAA or sign with the Sharks, after multiple interviews have come out that Macklin is undecided at this point. (16:00)
We have some coaching search updates, including some rumored finalists to share. Also, did the San Jose Sharks ever reach out to David Carle or Joel Ward? (25:05)
Are the Sharks going to be active in free agency this summer? Jeff Marek floated the possibility of Jake Guentzel as a FA target, and we give our thoughts on that possibility. Also, will Eetu Makinemi be back? (33:25)
Our last topic is the retirement of Joe Pavelski. We share some of our thoughts about his tremendous career, and whether he has enough of a resume for the Hall of Fame. (42:50)
And now it’s time for Todd Marchant! (57:13)
We decided to go through the San Jose Sharks system, from the 2023 Draft to the 2020 with Todd, discussing some well-known and lots of lesser-known prospects as well, focusing on mostly non-Barracuda prospects.
First, the 2023 Draft!
Quentin Musty (59:10)
Kasper Halttunen (1:03:47)
Brandon Svoboda (1:05:15)
Luca Cagnoni (1:08:03)
Axel Landén (1:10:28)
Eric Pohlkamp (1:12:10)
David Klee (1:14:30)
Yegor Rimashevsky (1:16:15)
2022:
Filip Bystedt (1:19:45)
Cam Lund (1:21:45)
Mattias Hävelid (1:23:10)
Michael Fisher (1:26:35)
Mason Beaupit (1:28:45)
Jake Furlong (1:30:20)
Joey Muldowney, Eli Barnett and Reese Laubach (1:34:02)
Who’s left from the 2021 Draft, not playing with the Barracuda or the San Jose Sharks?
Theo Jacobsson (1:37:19)
Yevgeni Kashnikov (1:38:25)
2020:
Alex Young (1:39:25)
Timofei Spitserov (1:40:25)
Brandon Coe (1:41:30)
We also discuss with Todd some prospects not drafted by the San Jose Sharks, starting with David Edstrom, acquired in the Tomas Hertl trade. (1:43:35)
Finally, what does Todd think of Collin Graf? (1:45:10)
Todd shares some final thoughts about the direction of the Sharks going forward and who has taken some big steps from last year. (1:47:50)
Thanks for watching!
13 Comments
Outside opinion, imagine Celebrini, Smith & Musty, Cagnoni, Bystedt all played 9 games then went down and blew the doors off in the AHL and gave the Cuda a league championship?!!! I doubt it… but JUST IMAGINE that team… couple of these guys will stay in the bigs, because their time is now… and the team a few years ago wasn't quite ready to REBUILD, it was a RETOOL… glad GMMG embraced the full rebuild, and with a painful year last year we landed the #1 pick!!
Times ⏲️ r changing for the Shark 🦈. 4 picks in top 50 . Building blocks 🚫 💪 are there, up to scouting to snag a few 💎
Good future is on the horizon 🙌. , should be a good, solid future.
I was iffy about GMMG when he was first hired due to no prior experience as a GM, but he has made great moves! I’ve seen other content creators have him at A/B+ tier in GM rankings
I know he's an undrafted 4 year NCAA guy, but is Ethan Frisch on anyone's prospect radar? He somehow posted a +17 on a bad Barracuda team.
Stolberg would be a poor choice at #14 (perhaps you were just saying the potential future Sharks) which is fair… Tankathon's mock draft actually has #42 (Devils->Sharks) pick as Stian Solberg!! For our #33 I really like the Swedish D-man Wallenius. I'm really torn… I'd love a winger at #14 – Nygard, Hellenius, or Eiserman but if none of them slip, it seems like all those 3 guys are going somewhere between 8-13 spots… I think the wildcard is Yakemchuk, if he goes higher… one of those 3 guys will be there for us! I like him at #14 for us, if we can't get a winger!!
I wonder about Greentree & Sennecke who I think are a tier below those 3 guys… is it beneficial to trade down with someone a few spots later (if all 4 of those guys are gone?!), and grab a Cole Hutson later on, who's ranked #26. Or how bout a guy like this Ryder Ritchie, really like him.. he seems like a great kid, smooth/silky hands as well! People having him going in the late 1st round…#27 as well. Imagine we got both Hellenius & Wallenius? That'd be wild!!
I'm big on selecting a top-generational D-man very high (likely next season we get another top-six, so pick up the Canadian -> Matthew Schaefer LHD) for me it woulda been Artyom Levshunov this year if we missed out on the Big Celebrini, I think a good bang for your buck is solid young wingers as well to complement our depth at centre. Most defenseman take years to marinate until their ripe in their 30s, unless you get a high pick (which is generational) like a Makar, Huggy… that can step after one year in college (like Willy Smith did last year) and make a huge impact early on in the NHL!!!
Martin Kaut… guy's a speed demon (as fast as Noah Gregy?!! nobody…) and he's playing in the Czech league… anyone know if we still own his rights, and can bring him back? We need wingers with our 6C – Logan, Nico, Celebrini, Will Smith, Bysted, Edstrom… some of those guys could play wing, or can we recall Kaut? He could be a decent PP2 bumper kinda guy.
Steven Stamkos would be intriguing. Great culture/mentor kind of guy. He’s won two cups, maybe he’s open to like 2-3 years with crazy AAV. We need someone who builds the culture while also can mentor young guys and help make the team better. He does check the boxes.
Great interview guys. Todd is a straightforward answer machine and gave us fan a terrific look at our prospects.
I don't think you guys realize how quick a turnaround can be. The Sharks could flirt with a .500 record next year with an influx of talent and the hopeful return of Couture. The biggest issue I see with the Sharks is the defense corps. That's where they should grab one of the FA's and overpay them. The goalie situation is unsettled, as well. But that could be from very poor defensive play.
I think with the right combo's this year and flirting with a .500 record could springboard into playoff contention the following year. It's not like there are a lot of stacked teams and there's quite a few aging teams that are going to suffer the Sharks fate of just fading away. Also plenty of teams are struggling with cap space to boot. If this takes 3 or more years to build a winner then something didn't go right.
I also think it would behoove the powers that be to let Bordeleau and Gushchin play this year, even if they aren't in your plans because of what they bring/style. But if they are decent offensive performers you can get something in return for them instead of just letting them walk away for nothing at the end of their next entry level contract.
Second comment here:
Did you guys watch hockey from the 80's through the 90's?
Some of those guys like Roenick played through the clutch and grab era where the top goal scorers weren't hitting above 40 goals. Those were the prime years of guys like Roenick and Tkachuk. Also they were the leaders on their respective teams. Recchi was a secondary dude on Lemieux and Jagr led teams. He also got to play with Lindros and LeClair. He was pretty fortunate in the centers he played with, however, I do believe he is a hall of famer
This need for strength and size hopefully won't lead to the use of substances. It must be tough for a kid to know that if he were bigger he could possibly make the NHL.
Pavelski is definitely in the hall of very good category. Had he played one more season to hit 500 goals AND won a Stanley Cup, I think he squeaks in.